We've Just Seen the First Use of Deepfakes In an Indian Election Campaign (vice.com) 39
The Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has partnered with political communications firm The Ideaz Factory to create "positive campaigns" using deepfakes to reach different linguistic voter bases, reports Nilesh Christopher reports via Motherboard. It marks the debut of deepfakes in election campaigns in India. From the report: On February 7, a day ahead of the Legislative Assembly elections in Delhi, two videos of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Manoj Tiwari criticizing the incumbent Delhi government of Arvind Kejriwal went viral on WhatsApp. While one video had Tiwari speak in English, the other was him speaking in the Hindi dialect of Haryanvi. "[Kejriwal] cheated us on the basis of promises. But now Delhi has a chance to change it all. Press the lotus button on February 8 to form the Modi-led government," he said. One may think that this 44-second monologue might be a part of standard political outreach, but there is one thing that's not standard: These videos were not real. [The original video can be viewed here.]
"Deepfake technology has helped us scale campaign efforts like never before," Neelkant Bakshi, co-incharge of social media and IT for BJP Delhi, tells VICE. "The Haryanvi videos let us convincingly approach the target audience even if the candidate didn't speak the language of the voter." Tiwari's fabricated video was used widely to dissuade the large Haryanvi-speaking migrant worker population in Delhi from voting for the rival political party. According to Bakshi, these deepfakes were distributed across 5,800 WhatsApp groups in the Delhi and NCR region, reaching approximately 15 million people.
"Deepfake technology has helped us scale campaign efforts like never before," Neelkant Bakshi, co-incharge of social media and IT for BJP Delhi, tells VICE. "The Haryanvi videos let us convincingly approach the target audience even if the candidate didn't speak the language of the voter." Tiwari's fabricated video was used widely to dissuade the large Haryanvi-speaking migrant worker population in Delhi from voting for the rival political party. According to Bakshi, these deepfakes were distributed across 5,800 WhatsApp groups in the Delhi and NCR region, reaching approximately 15 million people.
Confused (Score:2)
What made it "fake"? Was it a direct translation of the message into different languages? If so, sounds like a good idea to me.
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Basically, they took it beyond "audio dubbing" to make his face look like he was saying words in another language.
Re:Confused (Score:5, Insightful)
Right. Looks like they did a good job. It wasn't clear if the meaning of the message itself was really altered and it was at the behest of the candidate. So....sounds good to me.
Re:Confused (Score:5, Insightful)
Except, it's false advertising. And it's a slippery slope.
I don't want my next President to be 70% computer-generated. If he's a dumb-ass, I want to know it. And if he can't speak other languages, let alone English, I want to know that too.
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Re:Confused (Score:5, Insightful)
Because it implies a deeper connection to the voter's culture than the politician actually has. He doesn't speak their language, he doesn't know their issues, he just wants their vote and if a deepfake to make him seem like "one of them" will get him votes, then that's good for the politician but doesn't do much for the voters.
And of course all of that is completely aside from the issue that once you let "approved" deepfakes loose, anyone can and will put out deepfakes of their own on the same candidate that show a less positive image - and other politicians. It's a stupid idea.
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A translation of a person speaking their own words is a
Like in a newspaper, on TV, radio
Why would any person need a "culture" and "language" test to be allowed to talk to people?
A "one of them" test to get into gov?
Some people who have the needed language, have the approved "culture" and is "one of them" get to talk for/to a group of citizens?
Would only be using English
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An "approved" translation is not fake...
I don't think you know what we're talking about.
Translations are fine. Dubbing is fine. Please learn what a deepfake is before entering this debate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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Don't get me wrong, there are aspects of this that give me the jibblies.
However, this is what the old Star Trek universal translator leads to - the idea that you don't even notice what the "base" language is, and it really isn't relevant as long as the message and intent is conveyed.
Once the tech can start doing things effectively in realtime, I can see a State of the Union address seamlessly in my native language. Who needs Univision vs. the BBC - great content producers can just make great content for al
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Well, if you're talking about the US, then it is really the responsibility of the "people" to study up and learn what the true powers and limitations of the US president, in fact, are.....
He may be Commander-in-Chief, but aside from some powers to act quickly to defend ourselves, he doesn't have the power to start or end war, that is on Congress'
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"Slippery slope" is correct... This is use of deepfake by the candidate's own team. But if they can do it, could the opposition render anything they wanted too?
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The hair and tan is.
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It's a relatively minor transgression if the purpose was simply to translate the candidate's message for viewers of different languages. It's a bit misleading if it makes it look like the candidate is fluent in a particular language because that also implies familiarity with culture etc., which voters typically value (for good or bad). That's not the same as making the opposition say, "I eat human babies and they are delicious!"
I wonder if US candidates will try that: "El pared graaande es mui mui bueno!"
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So a new voice over is still approved old tech.... still good.
But get the tech a bit better and its "saying words"... bad.
How about just letting people in India enjoy the words of a political leader
In the past it would have been translated and printed.. then on radio..TV.. then on the internet. Now its translation and an image and voice.
Their message to talk to the people about.
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Because the other side of politics.
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No, this does not seem like a good idea to me. It demonstrates that the candidate is too lazy to truly connect with group of voters. Instead of looking out for the people and their cause, this politician just hires some sleazy PR agency to look "trustful". But it makes him look more like a douche instead.
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Why should they?
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It's a slippery slope from there to "America needs to invade them." I bet someone in this thread will be advocating it.
You just have to love the irony of well-off white leftists advocating that the US military bomb brown people for having the wrong political views.
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It's a case of the majority screwing a minority because they can.
Re: They need more help than deep fakes. (Score:1)
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Shhhh, don't give him ideas
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Maajid Nawaz on why he is so loud in his fight against Islam and the Regressive Left [reddit.com].
"I heard like 1000 allahu akbars in that video. You don't get to claim it has nothing to do with Islam while claiming you live in reality. If a bunch of Christians stoned someone while shouting "God is great! Praise Jesus!" You assuredly wouldn't hear those same people (progressive leftists) claiming it has nothing to do with Christianity. They'd definitely be blaming Christianity. They just give Islam a break because it
Re: They need more help than deep fakes. (Score:2)
And the BJP supports groups that have beaten people to death for alleged beef transport or processing (it is water buffalo every time).
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Re: They need more help than deep fakes. (Score:3)
Didnt work anyway. BJP lost the Delhi election.
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Deepfake ban (Score:1)
Identity, popularity and marketability (Score:2)
"Deep-fake technology has helped us scale ..."
It's always the same excuse: Identity, popularity and market penetration. It's hiding the truth and qualifies as propaganda. What's wrong with a voice-over in the desired language, as news broadcasts having been doing for years?
The Stainless Steel Rat . . . (Score:2)
. . . for President!